Tuesday, March 28, 2017

I know it appears that way recently, and it actually illustrates a point I've been wanting to make and which has come up again recently. It seems that people who have what we might consider "traditional" lives (aka working a five-day-a-week job) don't understand that we who have "nontraditional" lives (aka schedule of our own making/non-standard hours) are often just as busy as they are.

There's an assumption that because you can make your own schedule that you have a lot of free time or can really easily reschedule things. The truth is that frequently, because we make our own schedules, we've done a little Tetris to ensure we get the work done so all the hours fit together in a nice neat package. The fact that I'm writing this post right now means that I'm pushing off another task, which will need to be attended to and which may mean that I'm working late.

Let me just outline what's been going on in my life since the beginning of the year. I've taken multiple trips - one family-related, one activism-related, one writing-related, and one hockey-related. While they're definitely not all "work," there's something to be valued in each of them.

I've had three pieces of writing published; my most recent one went live yesterday and was an opportunity netted from an announcement about the other two. (I failed to mention the short story publication here - but you can still check it out). I've also written two new short stories and submitted my short story collection to a number of publishers.

There's also the fact that the art collective of which I'm a part, Shake-n-Make, has two major shows this year; one opening in late August and the other opening in November. Both are labour-intensive, and we've been working on finessing the details of installation as well as material considerations. This requires not only physical labour but meetings and various email communications. All of this takes time.

This is in addition to my teaching, which is considered a full-time load for tenured faculty but not necessarily for sessional/adjuncts, and my volunteer work (delivering library books to those who can't get to the library once a month), which actually requires that I schedule at least an hour with one of my clients.

I know this sounds a tad defensive, and it is. Why lie? But I also think it's important for all of our friends and family to understand that while I may be sitting in my pajamas as I type this (which I am, and it's almost 11am), I've been working for a few hours already, and I've scheduled the work of my day (this blog post, as noted, excluded). Don't let the wardrobe or nontraditional schedule fool you. There's a schedule; there is work.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

I was fortunate enough to be asked to pitch a story to Less Magazine late last year. I really only had one idea at the time, being a bit busy with two upcoming art shows and a full teaching schedule, and it was one that I'd been thinking about and wanting to write about: how slow fashion has affected the way I source materials for knitting or sewing projects. Luckily, they liked the idea, and the fun began!

It's been awhile since I've written an "article," which I put in quotation marks because it's kind of a personal essay disguised as an article, but I'm into hybridity so it's all good. I also hadn't worked with an editor in awhile, and it took me a minute to realize that there would be multiple drafts with accompanying revision requests. My editor, Sofie, was great and working with her was productive.

I reached out to a few people I knew via Instagram or had met at the Squam Art Workshops retreat I attended last June (and will be at this year again - yay!). Well, I initially put a wholesale call out in a post on Instagram and got a few bites. I ended up soliciting input from three different makers - Tierney Barden, Jess B. Daniels, and Anna Strive (@saint_raven on Instagram) - and am grateful they agreed to share their experiences. Not only did it give me some ideas, but it also let me know that I'm not the only maker who is concerned about these issues.

The magazine decided to make me a highlighted contributor and asked me to make a statement about the issue's theme, globalization. Yes, I, too, was unfamiliar with the term when I first heard it, but I think I understand it now. As they needed a high-quality picture of me (read - not from a cell phone or point-and-shoot digital camera), I only had a few options. I sent them three, and this is the one they chose:

There are a number of things I like about this image, which also cracks me up. Firstly, I'm making a very common face. I think you could find me making this face in a million images that the ladyfriend snaps of me. Also, I'm wearing a skirt I made, a turtleneck from 3 Dots (made in the USA), my beloved chambray shirt from Imogene + Willie (made in the USA), the tights are from Falke (made in Germany), and my Blundstones (no longer. made in Australia - sigh). I am also on the property of a dear friend in the Berkshires.

You can read the magazine here. Not only is my article in it, but it has great fashion spreads and other thought-provoking articles. I think of it like an intellectual fashion magazine. Please show them some love.

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The ladyfriend and I made the trek to DC to participate in the
Women's March. As both my parents and our son live there, it was an
easy trip to make (and no outrageous hotel costs to bear). I knit five Pussy Hats with Manos Del Uruguay yarn, which felt so right
as it benefits women in rural Uruguay. It was great seeing women in the
hats at the rest areas along the way.

We were a
little concerned about crossing the border, having heard about Canadians
and other foreign nationals being turned away at the crossing near
Montreal, QC; however, we still carry American passports and decided not
to pretend we were going somewhere else.

At the border, the conversation went a little bit like this:
Border guard: Where are you headed?
Me: Washington, DC
Border guard: What's there?
Me: My parents live there, and we thought we'd check out the march. (For
some reason I thought "checking out a march" sounded reasonable; it was
better than "I thought we'd take part in a revolution.")
Border guard asks a few standard questions - are you bringing anything in, and so forth.Then he just looks at us, hands us back our passports, and lets us go. Whew!

I
have to say, when we came back to Canada, the Canadian border guard
asked us how the march was and whether there'd been any problems. He
seemed quite interested, and not in a negative way. Oh, Canada!

The
march was fantastic. By all accounts it was one of the largest
rally/march in recent history. I've been to a lot of marches in DC,
going all the way back to the anti-apartheid marches in the '80s. I
went to the anti-Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars) rally in
'84 or '85 (I shared a cab with Amy Carter while in DC - hah!),
pro-choice rallies galore, and of course many Amnesty International
marches and demos.

Some images from the march -

Crowds at the Metro

Loved this!

These two guys were totally out of their element; they couldn't even
handle the volume of our rally cries! Wait 'til they experience the
full extent of our wrath!

My dad and my ladyfriend

Got to meet one of my favourite fashion journalists - Lynn Jaeger!

The love is big, and the hats match!

So now we're home, and as such often the question of how to maintain
the momentum arises. However, it seems like the current administration
is going to keep those fires stoked with the executive orders coming out
of the White House. But as we know, it's not enough to be incensed.
These troubled times require action. Thankfully there are a lot of ways
to engage in the battle.

The ladyfriend and I are committed to being informed and get headlines from The Guardian and The New York Times. I'm also listening to Democracy Now! and the NPR Politics podcast. We've sent money to the ACLU (thank you, thank you, thank you) and will be sending money to Planned Parenthood
(also a big thank you to them - I used them for gynecology exams before
I had insurance, and they were ones I went to when I needed to find out
whether I was pregnant). And of course, we'll be sending postcards,
marching, and resisting the normalization of the fascism we're facing.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

It started around Christmas 2015. I really didn't want any clothing for the holidays. I'd done the Life Changing Magic purge in October and was well aware of how much clothing I still had. On this day, last year, I decided to go public with my make/mend/thrift pledge for the year, and here are some of the things I discovered.

1. It wasn't that hard.

This bare fact really hits home how my approach to fashion and style has developed over the past few years. I had two moments (here and here) where there were dresses I coveted. These moments happened early on, and I'd say they were more a knee-jerk reaction to associating liking something with owning it.

2. It's not about you.

It wasn't as though I were parading about, making a statement, but if buying clothes or fashion came up in conversation, I'd tell people that I wasn't buying any new clothes. Some people responded as though I were judging them by my actions. Others wanted to question my guidelines - for example, trying to undermine my pledge by saying that thrifting was buying something new. Listen up, buttercup, these are my guidelines. You can make your own if you want.

3. I can make it if I try.

Okay, that sounds a bit more serious than it was. I made the mustard sweater as well as the Brooklyn skirt in a gorgeous purple. I have the pattern and fabric for the culottes (although it's not khaki), and I have patterns and fabric for all kinds of other projects. That mustard sweater has become a staple in my wardrobe, as I'd imagined it might be. The beautiful thing is that it goes with a lot of things in my wardrobe. This year, I'm making jeans.

4. Make what I like; like what I make.

Yep. That seems like it should be "duh," but in previous years, I'd find that I'd make something and not be that happy with it. I'd buy fabric, because it was cute, but then find it maybe too cute for me. I also ripped out more than one sweater that had been knit years ago (one that I probably knit in the late '90s!). I've already reworked the yarn from one of those sweaters (originally a Rowan pattern) into a cardigan from the first issue of Making (oh, be still my crafty heart!). I freakin' love that cardigan. Even the fact that I had to get more yarn (gasp - how would it ever match?) wasn't a total disaster. I simply alternated rows of the old with the new, on the back (crafty, crafty, crafty) where I don't see it (hah!). No one's the wiser!

5. My personal style is emerging.

I know - it seems like my style is pretty finessed already. But what I'm learning, still, is where my making and my investment in style and fashion are intersecting. This is still under development, for sure, (currently working on an essay about it), but in a very deep way, I'm grappling with how my identity intersects with my style. Yes, I'm asking existential questions around fashion - hey, why not? I'm trying to get to a place where who I am is the identity communicated by my style. Stay tuned for that one.

I haven't felt the need to make a similar pledge for 2017, but that's only because I'm really not into shopping like that anymore, and that's probably one of the best outcomes of last year's pledge.